Do not stand at my grave and weep

The oral culture is famous for their creation stories as well as their view on life. It seems that the stories I have read insinuate that they view life as more of a pilgrimage. Within that pilgrimage is death. Our groups presentation displayed this way of thinking within boundaries. Some could ague that by going into the boundary we faced death or traveled through death. When we all came back through the boundary we were transformed into a more enlightened being. This concept of traveling through life and treating our experiences as lessons reminds me of a poem written by Mary Frye called "Do not stand at my grave and weep"

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glint on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,

I am the swift, uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there, I did not die!

This poem holds the same concept of oral traditions. Instead of seeing death as an end to life, Frye sees it as a new beginning. She says over and over that death is not to be feared, but embraced. Frye says her body may be buried in a grave, but her presence is in the snow and stars and rain.

Romeo and Juliet

I was just thinking of how music still holds the tradition of orality. When listening to a radio or our IPODS we can only hear the story that an artist wants us to hear. Every song is similar to a short 2 to 3 minute story. Unlike books on tape, where the man reading is usually drawl and boring (believe me I've listened to Man in the Iron Mask for 10 straight hours. It was fine until my tape player broke and the boring man's words got more drawn out and his voice got really deep and then it sounded as if Satan was talking to me through Dumas...it was horrible) music uses attitude and expression. Before print stories must have been told with reverence. It is similar to a sermon at church. When the preacher speaks he portrays his mood on the subject he is speaking to the crowd. Anyways, music is the continuation of the oral tradition. Even though I'm going to contradict my previous statement by putting lyrics on my blog, it's worth it because I love these lyrics. They remind me of a new rendition of Hero and Leander or of any other story on the failures of hopeless romantics. Anyways, it's not like the Oral Tradition class doesn't contradict itself when we read books. The print tradition has become so predominant that even music is ruined with the printing of lyrics.

Actually, I change my mind. I'm going to put a link to a youtube video that is just the song. I found one without any distractions to overt the listeners attention from the lyrics. You know, T.S. Eliot says, "Distracted from distraction by distraction filled with fancies and empty meaning tumid apathy with no concentration men and bits of paper," and I have no idea what that means, but it sounds pertty (I spelt that wrong on purpose, P.S.).

The song is called Romeo and Juliet by Matt Nathanson.

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q8x36DSPNI

More T.S. Eliot

There are three conditions which often look alike

Yet differ completely, flourish in the same hedgerow:

Attachment to self and to things and to persons, detachment

From self and from things and from persons; and, growing between them, indifference

Which resembles the others as death resembles life,

Being between two lives—unflowering, between

The live and the dead nettle. This is the use of memory:

For liberation—not less of love but expanding

Of love beyond desire, and so liberation

From the future as well as the past. -T.S. Eliot



This is a one quote that I used for my paper, although I shortened it a bit. T.S. Eliot believed that memory is our freedom from the past and future. While we remember a past event we are in-between time, neither acting in the present or waiting for the future. Memory is the only means to be free from time. Eliot saw time as being a sort of bond to reality and to life on Earth. He was, as we all are, more interested in immortality and the pressure of time hinders the freedom of immortality. Memory has the capability of holding information, storing emotion, and liberating time. Wow, the power of memory!

Incorporating other classes

For final papers I seem to be using information from all my classes, except two...my political science classes. Well, for my Contemporary Literature class I am writing my final paper and it is a creative peice. I've decided to write a play including about 6 characters from previous book and poems we've read in class. I got the idea for the play from a reading in British Literature 1, The Beggar's Opera. I liked the satire of the play and decided it was vital in order for my play to be humorous. I also like the ending and how the audience was incorporated into the ending of the play. This gave me the idea of instead of having an ending for my play that, if ever presented, the audience would decide the fate of my ending. So, what will the play be about? A fraternity, of course. Fraternities allow for the perfect amount of sarcasm plus it will provide drama and a police report. How is this incorporated in Oral Traditions. Well, Ong says that the literature culture reached its peak at the detective story. My play will be similar to the game of clue, only at a fraternity party. Someone in the fraternity party will be killed, which isn't out of the ordinary, and the play will revolve around solving the case. If the peak of literature is the detective story, then I'm bound to get a good grade. The ending will be the trial of the killer and the audience will decide wether to hang the murderer or slap his wrist. The moral of Beggar's Opera is similar to my ending. In The Beggar's Opera the main character is constantly refering to social classes and how the rich and the poor are all morally the same, but the poor just get caught. The audiences choice will decide if that statement is still the same. My play seems to be organized, now all I have to do is write it.

My paper

I've decided to write my paper on Eliot's Four Quartets and his concept of time and memory and its connection to poetry. So far the hardest part is organizing and explaining my thoughts. Here is my introduction and I only except positive criticism.

“Poetry starts in the dark with the sounds of sand and wind.”
-Dr. Sexson

I disagree with this statement, although the idea that poetry begins in silence and nature is interesting. Either way, what’s the worth of a statement if it’s not disagreeable? I believe that poetry starts with the sounds of wind and waves. In T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, Eliot pieces together the connection of poetry and time past and time future. While Eliot is writing he stays in the present, however, all time is connected. What is past was the future and what is present will be the past. Memories then are the key to the unraveling of time. Poetry can only start with the poet’s understanding of time and the understanding of how it will end. Eliot proves that any creation needs a beginning and an end, poetry is not an exception. Thus, poetry must begin at the edge of a place that holds all memories and has the ability to control the future.

Last Day at Bridger

http://http//www.bridgerbowl.com/powderplex/?v=49c960ceabf75

Here's the video if anyone wants to watch it. It is about 2-3 min. long and you definitely don't have to be a Bridger Bowl rider to appreciate it.

I was lucky enough to be invited to employee day, which is a Tuesday, and officially the last day of snowboarding at Bridger Bowl. Although it has always been a good time to ride and drink with friends on the mountain, my favorite part of the day is the end of the year video. It has been the tradition that Missy Cashman edits, directs, and films the video and along with the end of the year video she also showed her Cold Smoke video. Missy put a song called "How it Ends" in the Cold Smoke video that was not only perfect in recapping the ski year, but it also made me think more on memory. Having a video show the best days of the year reminded me of not only the day, but the feelings I had on those days. Memory, especially in the form of pictures, brings back emotions. Some pictures you see and you laugh, some you get sad, and others fill you with joy. Watching Missy's video I was reminded of some of my favorite times of last year. Old pictures of ourselves are always connected to the emotion that we had during that time. Although this concept is nothing new I feel that it's taken for granite. This connection just shows the power of memory in a different light. As a class we've learned how to memorize text and names, but what about those times when you want to memorize a view? Does a picture need to be taken in order to carry a certain place and emotion with you? Even though videos and pictures are important in order to look back and be reminded of past times, a person's entire life is essentially one big video.

Group Presentations

The presentations on Wednesday were great. Of course my group started out and I can't help to admit that I was nervous. Having a group of 9 was a little nerve recking because we couldn't all meet at once, that is why we split into 3 groups of 3. I felt like our presentations were pretty self explanatory, but that could also be because I was involve in the producing and directing of the project. The idea of boundaries was fun to mess around with and right of the bat we decided that a play would be creative, fun, and easy. When we first met as a group Kevin decided that boundaries are most often found in children's books, such as the wardrobe, the rabbit's hole, and the elevator. There were plenty of others we considered however, like Peter Pan and the stars, and the black gates in Mordor, or the sword and the rock in King Arthur. The 3 boundaries were most important along with what happened to the characters on the other side of the boundary in order to change. Most of the details we left to the groups, such as what would cause their transformation and where they would go (I have to admit I loved the idea of Uranus and Neil Armstrong, I mean he has been there for over 50 years exploring the Universe on orders from the government and he has been eating stars).

Does anyone remember the 50's? Dr. Sexson, I know you do. As a later generation, I was taught that the 50's were filled with romanticism, chivalry, and freedom (or that's what Hollywood wants us to think). What was so different 50 years ago? It seems there's a lot of things. There were plenty of factors that created the clash between the rebels and the "leave it to Beavers." The most important factors were the Cold War and the pressure for equal rights for minorities and women. The constant threat of a nuclear attack made people re-think their lives. The image of motorcycle gangs and The Fonz were representations of youngsters living in the moment. There was also the rebellion against the "perfect American image." Television produced nuclear families including mom, junior, and pops, to show the rest of the world they were fighting perfection. So much was going on that helped create an ultimate diverse community. The beat movement was created by the constant battle between the two opposites. Without that clash we would be missing vital parts of history, like Happy Days. Ong says, "Song is the remembrance of song's sung," or in German "Gesang est deseim," song is existence (and if I spelled that wrong it is out of memory that I am writing this...so back off you corrective Nazis). The 50's are an important part of American history, and a time that will never be recreated. Without the rebel there wouldn't be the leather jacket, but seriously, we wouldn't have beat poetry. The beat movement was a transition towards expressionism (I might have made expressionism up). They are called confessional poets, Anne Sexton or Sylvia Plath. Before the popularity of rebellion, depressing poetry that was written about yourself was taboo. All these things add to what we as generation X, Y, and Z know today. Without Anne Sexton the poetry I wrote as a teenager would be in a dumpster, but now I know I can sell it. Without the 50's there wouldn't be the 60's and then Americans would be lost because we would be out an entire decade of drug experimentation. So, what does this have to do with memory? I don't know, I just like the picture.

“Oh God, I could
be bounded in a nutshell and
count myself king of infinite
space, were it not I have bad
dreams.”

I like the idea of dreams as infinite space. It's a new concept to me, but strangely I've thought about it before, if only in a dream. To me dreams have always been an adventure, which is sort of the same concept as infinite space. Things that I could never imagine or create some how come alive when I close my eyes. It's as if the books I read and the movies I watch aren't as far fetched as sceptics, also known as"Negative Nancies," will have you believe. Why can't a fantasy world be real when you live in one for a good 8 hours every night (or day, depending on sleep patterns). Either way when I think about the infinite space allowed for one's dreams it reminds me of the infinite possibilities of one's imagination. Call me crazy, but maybe fantasy is another reality and maybe by allowing ourselves to dream the impossible it is another way of exploring the world/memories of the universe. So this concept could be seen as a stretch and if you think it's crazy then blame Dr. Sexson for brainwashing me, but I think it holds a thread of consideration. If what we as humans do everyday, get up, go to work, play sports, watch t.v., is experienced by our five senses then what differentiates dreams from reality. The only answer I can think of is the type of eye we use to "see" the world. When we dream we are able to see things through our mind's eye, when we are awake we use sight. How big of a difference is this difference? With our dreams we are able to defy gravity, walk through walls, and experience death (hopefully we wake up right before, am I right?). I once had a dream where I walked through a grocery store wall to find myself in a desert, talk about crossing boundaries. Dreams are a way to live a life without boundaries. Even if you think I'm crazy, I think I need to think more about this and will do my thinking while I dream because that is the best way to think (think). Stay tuned while I compare dreaming with the revisitation to the Garden of Eden.

Throughout this semester there have been plenty of connections between this class and other classes that I have. Recently we studied a poem in American/British Contemporary Literature by Seamus Heaney called "Punishment."


"I can see her drowned

body in the bog,

the weighing stone,

the floating rods and boughs.

Under which at first

she was a barked sapling

that is dug up

oak-bone, brain-firkin:

her shaved head

like a stubble of black corn,

her blindfold a soiled bandage,

her noose a ring

to store

the memories of love.



Although gruesome, the poem is a reminder of past treatment towards women. The woman Heaney writes about is one out of numerous amounts of women who were hanged and thrown in the bogs of Ireland for adultery or other similar crimes. Although at the time women's thoughts and feelings weren't considered, Heaney writes this woman's story and gives her a name and a mind, he says, "her noose a ring to store the memories of love." No longer is this woman's life meaningless, by writing this poem Heaney gives her a higher purpose. Heaney suggest that the noose not only contains the memories of this certain woman, but all the forgotten women who were tortured and killed. I was trying to make the connection that if the noose contains her memories then the noose is her memory palace, thus memory palaces are deadly. No, not really, but it is interesting to think about.